USF football adds 3-game series with Alabama

TAMPA, Fla. (FOX 13) - Rocky, meet Big Al: The University of South Florida Bulls will meet the Alabama Crimson Tide on the gridiron three times in the coming seasons. The first will be in Tampa in 2023.

This is the second Power 5 series that USF vice president of athletics Michael Kelly has scheduled in the past two weeks. The program recently announced a three-game series against Miami starting in 2025.

“We are very excited to open the Alabama series in Tampa in 2023 and to add one of the most successful brands in American sports to a very exciting list of future opponents that will give our student-athletes and coaches a great opportunity to compete against the best programs in the nation,” Kelly said in a press release. “We now have 15 games scheduled vs. SEC and ACC opponents in the next 10 years and I think our fans are really excited to see those teams come to Tampa as well as the opportunity to travel and cheer on the Bulls in those destinations. It’s going to be a lot of fun to be a USF fan.”

The Bulls' only meeting against Alabama was in 2003, when the Crimson Tide won 40-17.

USF is 2-5 all-time vs. SEC opponents. They last beat South Carolina 46-39 in the Birmingham Bowl in 2016.